Goodbye to a Late-in-Life Wrestling Fan

My grandfather took to wrestling late in life. In fact, for the fifteen years or so that I enjoyed wrestling and he didn't, he used to make fun of me. Boxing was better, he said - it was real. THEY didn't stop their feet when they punched one another.

But somewhere in my early twenties he became a fan - and even more of one than I was at times! I was his 'go-to' girl if he had questions. We mourned Eddy Guerrero and the Benoit family together. One of my best memories with him was a weekend spent housesitting together while my grandmother attended a wedding; in a 48 hour period, we literally watched the entire 3-disc Undertaker's Deadliest Matches set. Hour upon hour of footage of his favourite wrestler. I tired of it before he did!

We never got to Wrestlemania together, as I promised him we would if it ever came back to Canada - in the time of his fandom, it never did, and he passed away last week after a long battle with a body long plagued by diabetes, heart problems, hip problems ... you name it. One of his last joys in life, as he lost mobility, vision and hearing, was wrestling. When I was no longer sure what to buy him for Christmases and birthdays - what he would enjoy - I bought him wrestling DVDs, which he watched by the hour, along with UFC (which I never got into myself).

Grampa's funeral was the reason for the lack of posting this week. Needless to say, he was more than worth it. And he will be missed very much by all who knew him. XOXO Grampa - go now in peace and may the love of God surround you everywhere you may go.